Paulie Gatto
Paulie Gatto was one of Clemenza's made men, his personal right hand man and personal chauffeur to Vito Corleone, a job he shared with the Don's son Fredo. Biography Born in the Bronx, Paulie was in the same sixth grade class as Michael Corleone. He became a protégé and trusted soldato under Peter Clemenza, receiving a percentage from the bookies on the East Side, and a union payroll. He was also known to supplement his income with stick-ups, something that was against family rules, but allowed by his caporegime. Paulie was one of the men who took revenge on the men who assaulted Amerigo Bonasera's daughter, Maria, severely beating the two punks and becoming increasingly respected in the family. He later sold out to Virgil Sollozzo and called in sick three times in one month, leaving only Fredo to protect the Don. On the third day, the Don was nearly assassinated while buying fruit. In hopes of avoiding detection, Sollozzo's people called Paulie several times from a pay phone across the street from the Genco Pura Olive Oil Company's headquarters. However, Paulie didn't know that the family had several phone company employees on the payroll. One of them alerted Sonny. When Sonny found out, he ordered Clemenza to have Paulie--"that stronz (Italian for "turd")", as Sonny called him--killed on the spot. Clemenza considered Paulie's treachery to be a personal affront, and was only too happy to arrange Paulie's execution. Death Clemenza, Rocco Lampone, and Paulie took a drive to find a place to "go to the mattresses," as well as picking up some of Clemenza's favourite cannoli from a restaurant. Clemenza had already selected Lampone as his new protege, passing over the equally promising Nick Geraci. While out in the countryside, Clemenza asked Paulie to pull over so he could 'take a leak'. While he was doing so, Rocco executed Paulie with three shots to the head. Paulie's role as Soldato and driver to Don Corleone was filled by Rocco. When Sollozzo learnt of his informant's death, he was unconcerned, having already eliminated the Corleone's biggest asset, Luca Brasi. Personality and traits Paulie Gatto was smart and cunning and knew how to get a job done, but he also had a greedy side which is what Sollozzo exploited. If he had not turned traitor he probably would have risen through the ranks quickly. His vehicle of choice was the Packard Super Eight. In the video game .]] In the video game, Paulie's treachery was witnessed when, during a subsequent firefight at The Roost, he disappeared, leaving Clemenza to fend for himself. For Paulie's execution, Rocco was replaced by Aldo Trapani. However, Paulie was alerted to his impending execution by the sound of Aldo's gun cocking, and he fled the car into a shipping yard. Trapani hunted down his former associate and killed him for his treachery. Aldo was then given Paulie's apartment in Brooklyn to use as a safehouse. Behind the scenes Originally, Paulie was going to be played by Robert De Niro, but he was traded to another production for Al Pacino. Ironically, this meant that De Niro would now be able to appear in his Oscar winning performance as the Don in The Godfather Part II. Notes and references Gatto, Paulie Gatto, Paulie Gatto, Paulie